Good advice from a ‘Net-friend (names deleted)

Shalom!

Rowland Croucher

Remember the advise giving on insights into finding hymns using a search engine. Same goes for this sort of email.

Anything the comes in and has you deeply worried and makes you think you should immediately send it to anyone you know to warn them should first be checked using the simple process of opening a search engine and typing a few keywords and hoax into the search box.

In this case I would use 90#, AT&T and (of course) hoax. This is what you’d get back using various search engines:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=90%23+AT%26T+hoax&btn G=Google+Search

http://www.altavista.com/sites/search/web?q=90%23+AT%26T+hoax&pg=q&avkw=tgz& kl=XX http://google.yahoo.com/bin/query?p=90%23+AT%26T+hoax&hc=0&hs=0 http://au.search.yahoo.com/search/anzwers?p=90%23+AT%26T+hoax&y=au

Any of these searches show that this email is a hoax, but it also highlights how much google rocks.

regards <> On Mon, 2002-07-15 at 17:23, <>wrote: So sorry everyone. Ema, a dear, sensitive, charitable colleague in this office, spent nearly five minutes laughing at me for passing that on. If anybody wants me, I’ll be hiding under my desk.

I’ll throw my bit behind it – this is a hoax e-mail (who apparently “checked” this?). I got my info from Hoaxbusters (http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org). Enjoy! Please, everyone – check all “warning” e-mails and the like BEFORE you send them… the moments you spend checking, saves all sorts of e-mail traffic and scare-mongering. Blessings, themolk. Here’s what HOAXBUSTERS had to say: “90# Warning January 1998 This warning is basically true for some but not all phone systems. Some PBX systems transfer a call to an outside, long distance operator when you type 90# giving the caller an outside line on your dime. It works if your phone system requires you to dial 9 to get an outside line, 0 to get an operator and # to transfer the incoming call to the line you have just dialed. Few home phones require you to dial 9 to get an outside line so dialing 90# will only get you a busy signal. As this is one of thousands of potential scams, sending out a message to everyone you know probably does more damage than the scam being warned about. On Saturday, 24 January 1998, Naval Air Station, Joint Reserve Base, New Orleans’ Quarterdeck received a telephone call from an individual identifying himself as an AT&T Service Technician that was running a test on our telephone lines. He stated that to complete the test the QMOW should touch nine (9), zero (0), pound sign (#) and hang up. Luckily, the QMOW was suspicious and refused. Upon contacting the telephone company we were informed that by using 90# you end up giving the individual that called you access to your telephone line and allows them to place a long distance telephone call, with the charge appearing on your telephone [bill]. We were further informed that this scam has been originating from many of the local jails/prisons. Please ‘pass the word.’ Original Message: —————–

This has been confirmed by Telstra: DO NOT push 90# on your home phone. I got a call last night from an individual identifying himself as an AT&T Service technician who was conducting a test on our telephone lines. He stated that to complete the test I should press nine (9), zero),(#) and then hang up. Luckily, I was suspicious ad refused. Upon contacting the telephone company, I was informed that by pushing 90#, you give the requesting individual full access to your telephone line, which allows them to place long distance telephone calls billed to your home phone number. I was further informed that this scam has been originating from many of rather local jails/prisons. DO NOT press 90# for ANYONE. PLEASE pass this on to your friends. If you have mailing lists and/or newsletters from organisations you are connected with, I encourage you to pass this on. Regards, <>